Missouri Valley to look at NDSU???

[acf2]

Is there a Horizon message board out there?

[dragonsfan]

summit/horizon merger would be fine, i dont see how it could hurt and butler money is still there until 2015 i thought i read somewhere. summit can survive with denver/omaha if those 2 start having success. zero reason to help out any big sky teams, they made their bed let them lie in it.

[NDSUguy]

Depends how concerned it is with staying in the current footprint it has set up. How far west and south do the schools want to travel? Does USD come with? How about Omaha and Denver? xDSU's are no sure thing to the Horizon IMO.

I think that we have to take off the green and gold colored glasses and understand that NDSU/SDSU is on an island geographically. No matter how good we might be in athletics, most schools make decisions based on money. Geography/Television Market/Fanbase/Etc. are the things that will really drive realignment. The Horizon won't care if we could make their conference better. They only care about whether their conference schools can afford to bus/fly their teams to the Dakotas.

As much as we might hate it, we need to make a spot for UND and Northern Colorado in the MVFC/Summit so that we can keep some semblence of a conference. If we are left behind with all the conference reshuffling we will be stuck on a sinking ship of poo.

[NorthernBison]

summit/horizon merger would be fine, i dont see how it could hurt and butler money is still there until 2015 i thought i read somewhere. summit can survive with denver/omaha if those 2 start having success. zero reason to help out any big sky teams, they made their bed let them lie in it.

I don't forsee a merger because it eliminates an autobid. I don't see the Horizon going away. I don't see the Summit folding either but it would go before the Horizon does.

[Grizzled]

summit/horizon merger would be fine, i dont see how it could hurt and butler money is still there until 2015 i thought i read somewhere. summit can survive with denver/omaha if those 2 start having success. zero reason to help out any big sky teams, they made their bed let them lie in it.

I don't think any Big Sky teams would jump into the Summit right now. Not until the next chunck of this movement takes place. They all kind of know where their bed is going to be at in the coming months. The Big Sky isn't immune to this conference shuffle but its less likely due to its geography.

But your just a NSIC fan of the Dragons so I suppose you are just an outsider looking in.

[silkamilkamonico]

The merger isn't going to happen.

The Horizon cherry picking from the Summit league very well could happen, and lets hope that it does, and includes the top 4 of the conference (Dakota schools, WIU, Oakland, and even Denver).

Likely wouldn't happen quite like that, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility, and at the moment would be best case scenario.

[ndsubison1]

This is exactly what I fear. There is ZERO chance that the Horizon or Summit would want to merge and give up the autobid to the basketball tournament. That being said, the Horizon has all the leverage and they will backfill however they see fit. If they pull from the Summit the remaining teams will be in a small conference with no where to go.

The truth is that we are excluded from conversations solely because of our location. I forsee a HORRIBLE future in the next 2-3 years.

My prediction: The Summit loses Oakland and Denver (within 2 years). The Summit will then sit at 7 schools. The only schools interested in joining will be d2 callups. Whatever gains that were made in the last couple of years will be DEAD.

or the horizon will poach teams from the summit. so there will be one bid mostl ikely down the road anyways

[Western4Life]

This article shows that XDSU's will be ok IMO. HL would snag you up long before UIPUI or IPFW, WIU as well. I bet Oakland and XDSU's get the call. YSU may leave which could open another spot.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/coll...usly_wait.html

I am very concerned for the SL and especially WIU. We are going to see HL wait out a few moves and see if they can steal anyone away. Oakland, UIPUI, IPFW, and WIU could all be options but I think they want to go bigger. A lot depends on SLU and Dayton with the Big East expansions. The OVC isn't going to pick us over Northern Alabama (weather, travel, recruiting area) from what I am told in expansion.

WIU will finish the football stadium with the recent fund drive but we still lack the new hoops arena we know is needed. Without those upgrades to facilities maybe we won't get a look but it is very bleak in Macomb.

[NDSUstudent]

Interesting article, thanks for the link. Nice to see NDSU's name thrown around even if it is just based on rumor and speculation...

The Horizon, for its part, has reportedly had its eyes on Oakland, Murray State, Belmont, Robert Morris, North Dakota State and South Dakota State. But right now, that's little more than rumor and speculation.

I do agree with those who say a merger won't happen, the Horizon will likely just take what it wants from the Summit. The door for the merger really slammed shut when the MVC decided to add just one school.

[BisonJD]

Couple of points on this article from the Chicago Sun Times...
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colle...on-league.html

Horizon Commish Jon LeCrone sounds almost cryptic in this clip, stating that this is only the beginning and that the coming months "might be unsettling for a lot of leagues." I take that comment to mean that it will be unsettling for the Summit League. In the very least, it sounds like he has a plan for the future of the conference and is confident enough in that plan to openly talk about it in the press. Radio silence from Douple. The Horizon is being poached, yet LeCrone is out talking about aggressive planning and membership for 2013-14. It seems clear that the Horizon League will be the aggressor in this round of realignment.